Shudder gem The Canal is one of the nastiest horror movies since Hereditary

The set-up for this low-key 2014 horror flick may seem like a Sinister rip-off, but stick with it and chills will ensue.

The opening of The Canal leans into haunted house clichés hard. Mark (Rupert Evans) and his pregnant wife Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) are introduced in the midst of a house viewing. Mark straight up sees a ghost, but still goes ahead with the purchase. Some may argue he deserves what's coming for him.

Yet these are patient ghoulies. We flashforward five years to find Mark has discovered through his job as a film archivist that - surprise, surprise - the house boasts a history of gruesome murders. More pressingly, it looks like Claire might be having an affair with a Hot Ponytail Dude.

The parallels to Sinister are clear. Mark - like Ethan Hawke's dickish true crime writer - has a job which makes him naturally inclined to deep dive into his new home's dark past. There's a lot of business with old timey film projectors and creepy archive footage. The deeper Mark investigates, the more danger he puts himself in.

The way ahead seems clearly signposted. As Mark discovers details of how the house's previous owners butchered their families and nannies, the implication is he'll soon go full-on Jack Nicholson himself.

Somewhere along the line, you realise the movie is actually playing a different game. Much like Hereditary and Mike Flanagan's early chiller Absentia, The Canal is actually putting its leading man through the worst possible things that could happen to his character until he snaps. Some subtle misdirects mean the plot doesn't quite follow its expected course.

Ghosts on their own are offputting enough - but The Canal takes pleasure in identifying Mark's personal anxieties and prodding them with a red hot poker. Sometimes it's the scenes that don't feature any supernatural shenanigans that are the hardest to watch.

There is a lot to be enjoyed from horror films that take random families or teens, stick them in peril and watch what happens. Yet the scares here had an impact on a much more visceral level since they were wedded to real-world psychological torment.

Lingering shots of open doors and moments where you're convinced something nasty is waiting when a character turns around hit much harder than such traditional ghostly goings on have any right to.

A slowburn set-up pays dividends in the final act when things properly start to go off the rails. Mark sees some truly disturbing sights in the final ten minutes, which are much more effective since the film has been sparing with its scares up to this point.

This final descent into darkness and psychological horror leave a chilling aftershock as the credits roll. The movie almost plumps for a masterfully ambiguous ending where we're not sure if there were any ghosts after all, but frustratingly fudges it with an unneccesary clichéd epilogue.

What Hereditary and Absentia do for grief and trauma, The Canal does for guilt and simmering anger. Though it's hard to put your finger on what elevates the film above its relatively by-the-numbers plot, you won't be disappointed if you do decide to check it out on Shudder.

If you're a fan of dark and nasty character drama, now would be a good time to rewatch Hereditary on Netflix or check out some of director Ari Aster's short films here.

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